Branston & Pickle Move House

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NotFondOfCarrots

NotFondOfCarrots

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Hello herd-masters and any reading pigs...!

Tonight, Branston & Pickle moved house from a standard pet shop plastic cage to a luxuriously appointed detached C&C with en suite...

Rather than do a "How To", as I know a few others are planning to do so, I thought I might offer a "Don't Do This" instead.

On another thread I mentioned a few points, I'll recap/expand on them here.

Warning - if you're on fleece, most of this will seem like a load of nonsense...!

1. Correx
I bought mine from Tea Crate Packaging.
This particular thickness is not as robust as you would think; it is easily damaged by sharp objects, heavy items, bending and folding. Treat it with care until it is safely installed.
It is quite easy to cut right through it with a scalpel/craft knife etc when at the scoring phase. Put some thick card underneath, and press very lightly! I can't recommend enough having a timber batten/long ruler for the measuring and scoring part, it will save your patience and make it easier to do this bit in one go. Accuracy is important, it makes the bending/snapping bit easier.
As with any kind of DIY, "measure twice, cut once"...!
It isn't delivered in some vast 8'x4' crate - it's flexibly rolled into a small hexagonal cardboard box small enough for a medium car boot. You don't need an estate or van to shift it.

2. Grids & Connectors
I bought mine from Netto.
These particular grids have the mesh welded to the face of one side of the frame, rather than being flush. If you are a stickler for symmetry/neatness, remember this. It also pays to have them all facing the same way if you abandon connectors as I did, as it aids freedom of movement when cable-tying.
The connectors protrude quite a distance into the proposed space inside the cage. If you were thinking that the correx lies flush with the mesh, it doesn't. It leaves either a small gap all the way round, or bumps in the floor. If you're bothered about this, it's worth thinking about. If you're on fleece, it's not an issue.
To this end, as I'm on shavings, and wanted a flush finish, I dispensed with the connectors entirely, and cable-tied the lot.

3. Joining the corners
I tried parcel tape and didn't like the lack of real solid join... it felt like it could come apart in time. After faffing with various glues (none of which were appropriate for piggies - whiffs, water soluble, etc etc etc) and a clothing rivet gun (not worth the OTT effort, frankly) I simply used Gorrilla Tape (x strong duct tape) and it did the trick (not on the photos to follow btw).

4. Being a bit OTT
If you've read this far and think I'm being a bit OTT/daft, I can completely understand. I just like a nice, solid finish & feel to things - especially when the cage needs to be robust enough to stand up to shavings and cleaning. I can appreciate those on fleece will have given up by now...!

5. Next time
If I make another cage, I will certainly be using much thicker correx. Easier to score, bend, shape and secure. The thin stuff is, IMO, far too flimsy for this. But that's just me.

6. Right, pictures...
 
The grids (minus connectors) all cable-tied. You'll notice the two near the bottom, one near the top cable ties - when you cut the "tails" off, they leave a sharp hub. The positioning of the ties is so that they're either hidden behind the correx, or too high for piggies to get near.
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The correx now inside the grids. Pic showing the "flush" finish follows.
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[img=http://img703.imageshack.us/img703/9360/19042011813.th.jpg]

After a layer of papers comes shavings and hay on top.
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Next comes log hideys, grass houses and tunnels.
[img=http://img828.imageshack.us/img828/7822/19042011822.th.jpg]
[img=http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/7003/19042011820.th.jpg]
[img=http://img585.imageshack.us/img585/280/19042011819.th.jpg]

And finally, here comes two boys, eager to move house!
 
Pickle went in first...
19042011823.th.jpg
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Then Branston...




And finally, some random pics showing the size of the cage in the room, and some happy piggies!




Hope you enjoyed my "Don't Do This" - please ask away if you want to know anything - or tell me I'm mad!

NFOC :D
 
Thanks Glynis, much appreciated. It was a faffy, patience-sapping hour or so, but worth it - they've not shut up in the last 4 hours!

Bed time for this herd master :D
 
Exellent - Thank you for sharing

Its great to see other peoples views and perceptions on the construction of C&C cages - very nicely addressed.

Branston & Pickle I imagine will now be loving their larger home, and think that they have a brilliant slave for making it for them.

Would it be possible for you to list the prices of items that you bought to make the C&C and the size now of the overall cage compared to the
shop bought one? Just to give a better insight to those that are comtemplating C&C.

:)p
 
If this helps we are in the process of building a C&C and hubby loves this sort of challenge. He looked at the option of correx and was not impressed so we have used clear perspex for our base. You can buy it from Homebase. Its a bit of a pain to cut, makes a mess and best to keep out of hubby's way, but its really durable and easy to clean. Let me know your views on this, or if any of you have used it xx
 
Salt n Peppers mum said:
Exellent - Thank you for sharing

Its great to see other peoples views and perceptions on the construction of C&C cages - very nicely addressed.

Branston & Pickle I imagine will now be loving their larger home, and think that they have a brilliant slave for making it for them.

Would it be possible for you to list the prices of items that you bought to make the C&C and the size now of the overall cage compared to the
shop bought one? Just to give a better insight to those that are comtemplating C&C.
:)p
Click to expand...

Hi Salt n Pepper's Mum! Thanks for the feedback, much appreciated.

As for the costs etc:

1x box of grids (Netto) = £15
1x Correx 8x4 (TeaCratePackaging) = £11 (inc delivery)
50x cable ties (Cheap pound shop) = £1

Total it was £27, and for that they've got a cage roughly seven feet long, by three feet wide.

Compared to the standard two-part plastic shop cage (whilst an admittedly large-for-the-type 3x1.5) for £65, and it's a no-brainer.

Pros:
Massive area for piggies - really the biggest cage you can make;
Very (comparatively to alternatives) cheap;
Easy (ish) to build;
Easy to alter/expand/improve;
Easy to clean;

Cons:
Not everyone has (or is willing to) 14 square feet to give up;
Fiddly construction if you're not patient;
Ideally needs to be on a table - so you're not "a giant from above" and to make access/cleaning that bit easier - but try finding an 8x4 table for little cost...!
Netto grids sold out, UK shortage of grids presently;
If on shavings, it uses a LOT of them;

That's my twopence worth. Please feel free to ask anything else, no problem at all!

NFOC :D
 
Thats brill :)p Thank you, 27 quid ehhh !

Your very brave using sawdust in the house, and for that amount of space, but as long as it works for you.

Now talking about tables :)
I have one of my C&C on an homemade table.
The white metal legs are about 12 inch high from B&Q then the table was made using 2inch wood and ply and painted white.
2 tables were made the same size - these could have been positioned many ways, a 8 grid by 2 grid straight for example, but I decided to use them as a corner table and bolted the two together - however, this is flexible as with C&C I have many plans to change it round this year.
001.jpg

The upper level has been made much more into a hay den
lshapedcc.jpg

Upper level hayloft
045-1.jpg


Just a note, I have some of my C&C cages on the floor, and my pigies are fine with me standing over them and even getting in with them once they are used to it they see it as normal :)
 
Those are absolutely fab - wonderful job! I've looked at your pics many times in the sticky - really amazing!

We're waiting to see how they get on for a short while before making/buying a table to be honest. When they were in their small cage, they liked being at our waist height, but I suppose you're right - they'll get used to us being tall!

As for tables, I have costed up doing something very similar - timber frame, ply top, bought legs. Legs are £2 each at Ikea (£8 or £12 then), timber is approx £15, so another £25 and a day's DIY'ing should see a decent sized table.

However... Ikea make a "Lack" table almost the right size for £20, which would involve no DIY (I have very little spare time).. so I'm holding off for a while while I see what's what.

So far, they adore it - and you can "spot clean" as you go, so it's been great for them, great for us - win-win!

As for sawdust in the house - i know what you mean about being brave - the depth of the correx and the amount of hay on top of the shavings really helps. And the boys don't charge around too much, so don't kick it out. They hate the vacuum cleaner though!
 
Just thought I'd mention that my girls cage is floor height although its not quite a c+c as it has high sides and they get on fine with it. Problem is my dog keeps sticking her tongue through at them to steal food! :)
 
I am not letting Honey and Sophie see this thread and I am definitely moving my room round to make a bigger cage/run situation!

x
 
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